It was the 27th of January, and we found ourselves once again on the 8th Floor of Aincrad amidst an ocean of trees.

This wasn't the first Floor we had encountered that was laid out like this. The last had been the 3rd Floor. As you recall the entire Floor had been dominated by the «Forest of Wavering Mists» with very few exceptions, though exceptions did exist. This mostly revolved around caves, which often served as the site for quests and dungeons. The 8th Floor sported a far larger forest with very few grasslands to speak of. In fact, I hadn't recalled seeing any! Not even a lonely rock formation to break up the monotony. Thankfully the pathways weren't too hard to traverse once you were familiar enough with the landscape.

Our mission was two-fold: advance our Skill proficiencies and increase our Levels.

Progress was good and steady. We still hadn't joined the front-line population, but we were pushing determinedly to catch-up. Our Levels and new Skills were a firm indicator of our resolve. Arashi and I, as usual, were even; we both sat at Level 28, and were only two Levels away from grabbing our sixth Skill slot. Our last slot had been at Level 20. I had taken «Battle Healing» which itself was a useful Skill to possess, albeit something of a double-edged sword. To level it you had to suffer damage whilst already being in the red portion of your HP. Arashi had been a Godsend in this regard and pulled Hate every time I needed him to. Arashi, meanwhile, had invested in «Meditation». This Skill increased the user's natural HP recovery whilst offering increased resistances to several Status Effects, chief amongst them Paralysis.

Combine this with Arashi's weapon, which had an HP Leech effect, and his armour, which had a natural HP recovery, and Arashi had cemented himself as an HP battery.

Humorously, however, was the way Arashi obtained it. He claimed to have met this old Elf on the 6th Floor who constantly whacked him with a stick for having - and I quote - impure thoughts. So, you can imagine how much we laughed when, after three days, Arashi finally unlocked the Skill and told us there would be no more mention of old elves and sticks. What we didn't laugh at was his Proficiency level. It was at 500! We hadn't done much experimentation with the «Awakening» modification of this new Skill, but Arashi was walking around like a prized bull at show.

«Are we going to stay a while longer, Kishi?» Shiro messaged me on the guild channel.

We weren't in a dungeon, just a massive ocean of trees.

«Yeah, Asuka messaged me a little while ago.» I typed. «Ryne and her are close to dinging. I think the same's true for Raixas.»

«You're right.» Raixas added.

Asuka, Ryne and Jiro were sitting nicely on Level 25. Shiro was Level 26 whilst young Raixas was sitting at an impressive 27 - if he dinged in this session he'd be the equal to Arashi and I. Like Arashi and myself they had each invested in a few new Skills. Shiro hadn't picked up a combat Skill when he reached Level 20 and instead fulfilled a long-time goal by grabbing «Carpentry», and he was quite surprised when we gave him our blessing to do so. He admitted that he expected some resistance but to be honest, I wasn't worried. At the moment he could get by with «One-handed Sword», «Shield», «Howl» and «Heavy Metal Armour». This gelled well with Raixas who already had «Lumber» slotted and together they had accumulated a sizeable amount of money selling hand-carved figurines to the tourists on the lower Floors. It was Shiro's intent to eventually work his way up to crafting furniture which, of course, was where the real money laid in carpentry in Sword Art Online. As for the future of his Skills he fully intended to grab «Meditation» in the same way Arashi had once he hit Level 30.

Asuka, meanwhile, had taken «Throwing Blade» at Level 20. Aside from providing a slew of options in addition to long-range attacks, it allowed her to maximize the effectiveness of her «Sheath Knife Belt». This awesome piece of waist-wear allowed Asuka to equip upwards of three «Throwing Picks» and attack with them without removing her claws or entering an «Irregular Equipment» state, which would usually ensue should the belt be absent. According to her at the time it had been a no-brainer and I couldn't argue with her. It really did round out her Scout-build.

"Kishi, while we're levelling, do you want to level your «Battle Healing» a little more?" Raixas asked me.

"If you're okay nursing me, kid."

"Of course!"

Raixas, I believe, had been the first player to discover the «Dancing» Extra Skill. Argo had told me all about it, you see, and I had since unlocked it myself. I hadn't slotted it and doubted I ever would, but you know me and how I like to have options by now, right? There was no magic in Sword Art Online. It wasn't like older MMO's where a player could play a magical class and throw a literal fireball at an opponent's head. God, I missed those days! That said, Aincrad wasn't completely without magic. This was most commonly felt in the special attributes of equipment, but certain effects I had seen could only be described as magical in nature.

«Dancing» was one such instance and was the Skill Raixas had slotted at Level 20.

I attracted the attention of several monsters and deliberately allowed them to take me into the red zone. Normally, this is when a player would panic. Not me. My «Battle Healing» Skill was just over 100 in Proficiency and this meant I was recovering 200 HP every 10 seconds, which should give you a solid idea of how long my companions and I had been employing this little scheme. Whilst this only barely blunted their attacks against me I was still losing HP and ordinarily I would eventually die if this continued uninterrupted. That was where Raixas came in. «Dancing» was one of the few Skills in the game I had encountered that applied to the whole party when used. By using various dances he could impart a number of useful effects. One of these was called «Faith-healing Waltz». This dance - it was still classified as a Sword Skill funnily enough - provided a party-wide HP restoration buff which restored 5% of the targets maximum HP every ten seconds, which itself lasted for 60 seconds. This, of course, stacked with my own healing buff. As long as my buff was in effect and Raixas was dancing, there was no way these monsters would kill me.

To sum it up nicely my restoration was greater than the sum of their damage.

Arashi, meanwhile, was there for insurance. Whenever he wasn't attacking anything he was taking the time to strike a meditative pose to reapply his «Meditation» buff whenever it dropped off.

"You know, this isn't boring at all." Arashi finally said.

The sarcasm dripped from him.

"It could be worse." Raixas pointed out. "Kishi's been getting slashed and gouged all day."

"I should have gone with the others." Arashi bit back.

Farther into the forest was where Shiro was Tanking opponents for Ryne, Asuka and Jiro. Jiro's decision for a Skill had probably received the greatest attention from all of us, because he wasn't sure what to go with himself. There were a few options we talked about, though what he ultimately went with was «Martial Arts». This addressed the main weakness of the spear he favoured, as it allowed him to attack in very close-quarters with kicks should the need arise and served to round his build out well. It also had the unforeseen side effect of opening up a «Composite» attack called «Pole Vault». This Sword Skill allowed Jiro to use a gap-closing kick by slamming his spear into the ground and using it to propel himself towards his target with a powerful dual kick. Ryne's Skill, meanwhile, had been very easy: «Extended Weight Limit». In her own words more space for loot meant more loot to sell, and more to sell meant more money. She really did have a one-track mind, that girl.

By around 17:00 we were thoroughly exhausted!

"Whew, all I want to do is eat a tonne of food!" I exclaimed.

"I think I'll go back to the inn and drink myself into oblivion." Shiro added.

By the number of hands that went up it seemed that Arashi and Jiro were going to join him. Asuka, meanwhile, said she would join me.

"What about you, kid?" I asked of Raixas. "You want something to eat?"

He considered his response for a little while before slowly shaking his head.

"No, thank you. The twins asked me to take them to the «Dead Woods Mausoleum» to hunt down some relics. Apparently, they think our accessories could do with improvement."

"We should eat in Mananarena then." Asuka suggested. "We'll only be a couple of minutes away if they need us."

"Agreed."

"I'll go with you, Little Fuji." Ryne added. "It'll be just like old times."

The twins had been hard at work doing their own thing over the last few days and this mostly revolved around crafting and making money. That said, they weren't completely without combat know-how any more. They weren't quite as high-levelled as the rest of us, on account of their experience rising mostly from fetch-type quests that required no battling on their part, but they had recently reached Level 20 and gained their fifth Skill slots. Instead of adding more crafting Skills as I had expected them to do, they instead opted for «Martial Arts» instead. Raixas had helped them do so by luring the «Trembling Ox» on the 2nd Floor the same way I had many moons ago now and using it to break the large stone. With that achieved the twins could actually take part in proper battle now.

They also didn't have the worry of equipment maintenance. Raixas kept the hate firmly on him and thus they were rarely, if ever, damaged.

Asuka and I retired to a small restaurant with a very basic menu. It was designed to service the miners of the town. It may be basic, sure, but it was good and wholesome food. I settled on a hearty meat stew, a couple pieces of thickly cut bread, and a pint of Aincrad's beer. Asuka went for the vegetable soup. When it arrived and I saw several lumps floating in it, I asked her what they were.

"What, haven't you ever seen potatoes in soup before?"

I was horrified!

"Potatoes? In soup!? That sounds disgusting!"

And it was. She consented to let me try some and I ate a mouthful right off her fork. The soup itself was delicious, but I found the mushy texture of the potato to be off-putting.

"Yup, that's foul."

"You big baby."

The actual dining experience in Aincrad, as usual, went by far too quickly. One dish followed by another the moment you finished the first? Yeah, not exactly conducive to a romantic evening, or even casual conversation. So we ended up ordering a total of four times; the first was our starters, and after about a good fifteen minutes of casual talk we ordered again, which was the main course. The third was our dessert, and we only ordered this after a good twenty minutes had passed. By the time we were sitting down to a cup of coffee - or at least what Sword Art Online passed off as coffee - we had been seated at the same table for almost an hour-and-a-half. There was still a good number of low-level players on the 5th Floor courtesy of the «Relic» craze and the ease of making money off of it, so we actually saw a good stream of people pass through.

I was fairly sure the NPC waiter was giving us evil looks too.

"Do you think we'll ever clear this game?"

As Sasakibe would say, the question came completely out of left field, and for a good while I was silent.

"... Yeah, we will. But I can't sugar coat it. People will die."

She didn't look surprised by my answer.

"... Make sure you aren't one of them." She added.

"You've got «BS» beside your name." I pointed out. She looked momentarily stunned, and quite prepared to sock me on the jaw, before remembering that our guild abbreviation was BS. "That means I'll get you through this game, one way or another. Airi… I promise you'll see your cats again."

It was amazing how serious I could look when I tried but not even I could hold a straight face when I said that last bit about her cats.

"You're such an idiot!"

"Aye, but that's why you adore me."

I liked to consider it one of my finest qualities. I could relax anyone, even Arashi, with words alone. This game exacted a high toll - I hadn't encountered an environment where so many things could kill you, and this was even including that time I went to Australia on holiday. And, of course, death here meant death in the real world. So when Asuka looked at me, smiled, and squeezed my hand, I knew I had succeeded again. She was smiling. It was true there were some things that could only be expressed by words but there were also times when words weren't needed. This was one such time.

I knew Asuka's heart and she knew mine.

"Should we get back to it? I'm pretty sure those three boys will be drunk by now."

Considering Elise's «Pigeon Ruby» did not take into account one's natural constitution, Asuka's claim would likely turn out to be spot-on. I found it quite funny though that Asuka was calling them "boys" when she was younger than them all. Yeah, you heard me right. In the real world Asuka was only 17 years old. Hard to imagine, I know, considering how mature she is. Well, compared to us, at any rate. Hell, compared to some of us, Raixas was more mature. I will, of course, deny having admitted that.

We took the tunnel from Mananarena to Karluin and from there took the teleport gate to Rovia, back on the 4th Floor. We arrived before long and once there Asuka headed off to our inn to round up the others. I didn't join her however and instead knocked on the door of a two-story player-house close to the teleport plaza.

"It's the 'decidedly cheeky fellow'," I shouted through the door. "So open up!"

"Kishi, old boy!"

"Evening, Sasakibe! Nice place you've got here."

Sasakibe beckoned me inside. The lower floor of their house was set aside for printing presses and book writing and this was where Alisaie was currently. She was bent over a wooden desk making notes, most likely pertaining to whatever dungeon they had most recently cleared. They would run it a few more times to narrow down monster patterns and potential secrets, traps, etc, and once they had they'd sell their guides to the player population. The rest of the guild was upstairs; I could hear Risa and Johnny talking, and Benkei was likely up there too.

I had to admit to being impressed by their work. The guides «Last Remnant» made had proved quite popular amongst the lower-levelled players.

"Hey there, Alisaie. Keeping busy?"

She adjusted her oval-shaped glasses and looked up at me and if she were in the real world I'd say she was exhausted. The signs weren't as easy to spot in the virtual world as fatigue was a complicated thing.

"Hello, Kishi. I'm a little swamped, to be honest. Lots of orders to fill."

"None of us have the writing flair, I'm afraid." Sasakibe added. "And she refuses to let our clients down."

That was hardly fair.

"I can help." Her violet-tinged blue eyes lit up at my offer. "As Sasakibe knows, I used to review games. So I'm no stranger to the pen. Where should I start? Unless ol' Sasakibe here has any objections?"

"None!" He replied.

"How many of the newer dungeons have you ran?" Alisaie asked.

"At the minute? Nothing below the 8th Floor."

"Then you're more or less at the same point we are. Your help would be greatly appreciated!"

"Let's get to it. Oh, and that reminds me. Ryne, the twins, and Raixas are relic hunting in the «Dead Woods Mausoleum». I'll ask Ryne- No, no I won't. She'll only insist on charging you. I'll ask Raixas to stop by and chime in."

"Thanks!"

It was after 21:00 before Raixas walked into the room and joined us. With his input we managed to get through Alisaie's rewrites before midnight, at which point she thanked us profusely.

"Looking through these," Raixas began, "I see you haven't documented much on gathering nodes. Some dungeons, like the public mine at the bottom of Mananarena for example, have great mining locations. I could write up a list for you?"

"... That would be fantastic, thank you. But you've already done so much for me today! I couldn't impose on you any further."

"Nonsense." I said smoothly. "I'll take it as a personal slight if you don't ask us for help. Any friend of Sasakibe's is a friend of mine."

On the way back to our inn I saw Raixas stifle a yawn with the back of his gloved hand.

"I think someone needs their bed."

"I'm completely beat!" He admitted. "This never happened when I was alone."

"Yeah, well, get some sleep. You can fill me in on the accessory hunt in the morning."

"Okay."

They had quite a haul though sadly it wasn't in the form of new accessories. They found some, sure, but nothing that was superior to what we had already. Still, the four of them dragged in a remarkable amount of cor for little over two or three hours of work, and it would go a long way to buying us good accessories when we moved up to the 8th Floor tomorrow. And that could make all the difference. Sword Art Online was still a death game after all and every edge, no matter how slight, could make all the difference.

"So, what's on the agenda today?" Shiro asked me.

"I think its time we all got used to working together."

This led the twins to look up at with big eyes.

"Does that mean-"

"Yup, you're coming with us today. Sheila, you and Raixas will join Team A. Elise, you are with Arashi's Team B. Stay close to Ryne."

"Okay!"

And that was how things proceeded for us for a good while. Grinding levels and Skill proficiency, helping our companion guild «Last Remnant», and building up our equipment and coffers. I couldn't say how long it would take us to reach the front-line proper and start actively clearing labyrinths and fighting Floor Bosses, but it was definitely what we were working towards.

One thing was for sure: we had plenty of time.